death, the powerful kingdom of the Seleucidæ embraced most of the Ottoman provinces of Asia. Antiochus, in turn, yielded to the star of Rome, and the empire of that warlike republic was extended to the Euphrates. In the 7th century the Arab tribe of Saracens burst forth from their deserts, and proclaimed a new religion, and the empire of the caliphs once more restored the seat of dominion to Mesopotamia. This in turn crumbled and fell to pieces, and, in the 15th century, all this part of Asia was subjected to the degrading yoke of the Otto mans.* CHAPTER CXLII. SYRIA, OR EGYPTIAN ASIA. 1. Boundaries and Extent. This region, which has recently been ceded by the Porte to Egypt, is bounded on the north and east by the Ottoman dominions; on the south by Arabia, and on the west by that part of the Mediterranean often called the Levant. It extends from latitude 31° to 37° N., and from longitude 35° to 41° E., having an area of about 50,000 square miles, with 1,500,000 inhabitants. 2. Mountains. The Libanus traverses the country from north to south in 2 distinct chains; "In history, the interesting transactions connected with Asia Minor have been so numerous and varied, that we can attempt only a very rapid enumeration. The first picture is that of its nations when arrayed against Greece in the Trojan war. Troy, in that great contest, drew auxiliaries from Caria, Lycia, Assyria, Phrygia, and Maconia, so that it became almost a contest of Greece against Asia. Even the Greek pencil of Homer seems to delineate on the Asiatic side a people more polished and humane, though less energetic and warlike, than their invaders. Afterwards in the republics of the refined and effeminate Jonia, we find an early perfection of the sciences, poetry, music, and sculpture then unknown to Greece, though that country, in arts as well as in arms, soon eclipsed the glory of its masters. Here, too, the kingdom of Lydia was early famous, first for power, but much more afterwards for wealth and luxurious effeminacy. These unwarlike states soon yielded to the arms of Persia, were included within its empire, and their arts and resources served only to swell the pomp of its satraps. In this humiliating condition, they lost all their former high attainments; and it became of little importance, that they passed sometimes under the sway of Athens, and were ruled by Greeks instead of barbarians. After the conquest of Alexander, however, and when his rapidly formed empire fell as suddenly to pieces, some of the most conspicuous among the fragments were kingdoms established by his successors in Asia Minor. It was there that Antigonus and Demetrius collected a great portion of the resources, with which they made such a mighty struggle for supremacy among the Macedonian chiefs. After their fall, the kingdom of Pergamus was founded, whose princes, by their own ability, and the alliance of the Romans, became for some time the most powerful in Asia. Their glory, however, was surpassed the principal chain near the coast forms the Lebanon Mountains; the highest summit, near Balbec, has an elevation of upwards of 11,000 feet. The Anti-Libanus or interior chain rises to a greater height, some of its summits being upwards of 16,000 feet high. Mount Carmel and Mount Tabor are of historical celebrity. The latter is generally supposed to have been the scene of the transfiguration, but if it was not it derives interest from the striking features of the prospect afforded from its top; the hills and the Sea of Galilee, by that of a kingdom formed in the opposite quarter of the peninsula, that of Pontus, by the powerful character and high exploits of Mithridates, under whom the last great stand was made for the independence of the world. Asia Minor was next reduced completely into a Roman Province, and made few and feeble attempts to shake off the yoke. "It was chiefly distinguished in ecclesiastical history by the formation of apostolic churches and the assemblage of general councils; of which those of Nice and Chalcedon, in particular, had an important influence on the belief and worship of the Christian world. Protected by its distance from Arabia, and by the mountain chains of Taurus, this peninsula escaped in a great measure the tide of Saracen invasion. That great succession of hordes, however, who, under the name of Turks, poured down from the northeast of Asia, after conquering Persia, crossed the Eaphrates and established a powerful kingdom in Caramania. Being divided, and crushed under the first successes of the crusaders, the Turkish (Seljukian) power sank into a languishing state. Suddenly, however, from its ashes, rose the family of Othman, who, collecting the Turkish remnant, and combining it with the neighboring warlike tribes, formed the whole into a vast military mass, which there was no longer anything adequate to oppose. This power continued to have its principal seat in Asia Minor, until Mahomet the Second transferred to the Ottoman Porte the dominion of the Cesars, and made Constantinople the capital of his empire. Asia Minor has always continued more entirely Turkish than any other part of the empire; and it is thence, chiefly, that the Porte draws those vast bodies of irregular cavalry, which form the chief mass of its armies." Encyclopædia of Geography. or Lake of Tiberias; Nazareth, the early residence of the Savior; the plain of Esdrælon, the theatre of many actions in Jewish history, as well as in the times of the crusades; the mountains of Gilboa, where the Philistines gained a signal triumph over the chosen people; the village of Cana, the scene of the first miracle of Jesus, are all within the sphere of vision. 3. Rivers and Lakes. The Orontes is the principal river of this region; it rises in the Anti-Libanus, and reaches the sea after a course of 250 miles. The other rivers are small. The Jordan, or Arden, rises in Mount Hermon in the chain of the Anti-Libanus, and flows through the small Lake of Genesareth, or Tiberias, into the lake called by writers the Dead Sea. The latter is a small body of water, about 60 miles long, and from 10 to 15 wide; its waters are salt and bitterish, and remarkable for their great weight; they abound in asphaltum, a sort of bituminous substance, whence the lake is also called Lake Asphaltites. It is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose guilty inhabitants were engulfed in its gloomy waves. 4. Climate and Vegetation. The climate of Syria is for the most part like that of Northern Africa, but there are districts in the north where the cold is too great for the free growth of the date, orange, and lemon. "It has been remarked," says Malte Brun, "that if the advantages of nature were duly seconded by the efforts of human skill, we might, in the space of 20 leagues, bring together in Syria all the vegetable riches of the most distant countries. Besides wheat, rye, barley, beans, and the cotton-plant, which are cultivated everywhere, there are several objects of utility or pleasure, peculiar to different localities. Palestine, for instance, abounds in sesamum, which affords oil, and dhoura, similar to that of Egypt. Maize thrives in the light soil of Balbec, and rice is cultivated with success along the marsh of Haoule. Within these 25 years the sugar-canes introduced into the gardens of Saide and Beirout; indigo grows without culture on the banks of the Jordan, and tobacco is cultivated in all the mountains. The white mulberry forms the riches of the Druses, and the vines furnish red and white wines equal to those of Bordeaux. Jaffa boasts of its lemons and watermelons; Gaza possesses the dates of Mecca, and the pomegranate of Algiers. Tripoli has oranges which vie with those of Malta; Beirout has figs like Marseilles, and bananas like St. Domingo; Aleppo is unequaled for pistachio-nuts, and Damascus possesses all the fruits of Europe, apples, plums, and peaches growing with equal facility on her rocky soil." A peculiar Barley. Fig. interest is attached to several shrubs of this region, from their being mentioned in the scriptures, and some of these will now be more particularly noticed. The fig-tree (Ficus carica) abounds in Palestine, and the men, who were sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan, brought with them figs and pomegranates. What we commonly esteem the fruit of the fig is not, however, the fruit, but a receptacle containing numerous florets; in order to ripen this more surely the process of caprification is performed, that is, the receptacle is punctured in order to give the male dust a more ready access to the female flowers. In the East this is effected by collecting a little insect from the wild fig, and bringing them to the cultivated tree, where they pierce the fruits in order to deposit their eggs. The sycamore tree of Scripture (F. sycamorus) is a sort of wild fig, the fruit of which, although quite bitter, was eaten by the Jews. The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is common in Syria and Aleppo, and is often mentioned in the scriptures. There are several sorts, one being sour, and the others, which are eaten at table, sweet. The husks, "which the swine did eat," and with which the prodigal was fain to fill himself, are supposed to be those of the fruit of the carob or locust-tree (Ceratonia siliqua), a middle-sized tree with the seeds contained in large pods; these husks are still employed in Palestine for feeding cattle. The locust tree is also called St. John's bread, from an idea that its fruit was the locust spoken of as the food of John the Baptist; but others think, that the word in that passage means the insect, which is still eaten in the East. The palm-tree of the Bible is dactylifera), the fruit of which is eaten fresh or dried. Jericho was called the city of palms from the abundance of these trees in its vicinity, and on the Roman Sycamore. the date palm (Phoenix coins they were emblematic of Judea. At the feast of the tabernacles, "goodly palm branches" were used in the erection of the tents, and when our Savior entered Jerusalem, "the people took branches of the palm-tree, and went out to meet him." The Jews in the northern countries still procure them for the Passover, at great expense. The olive (olea) attains to a great size in Palestine, which has always been famed for the excellence and abundance of its oil, and is described in Scripture as "A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, a land of oil and honey." The cedar of Lebanon (Pinus cedrus) is remarkable for its stately size, and wide-spreading branches, and the timber was highly esteemed by the Jews (see cut on the opposite page). The temple and the royal palace were built of wood, and it was used by the Tyrians for masts. The Psalmist calls these trees "the cedars of God." They are now rare in Palestine. The terebinth tree (Pistachia terebinthus) is often mentioned in Scripture, and is called oak, in our translation. Isaiah threat Palm-tree. Bay-tree ens the idolaters, that they shall be as a terebinth-tree, whose leaves fall off; that is, being an evergreen, when the tree dies. It lives to a great age. The plane-tree (Platanus orientalis) is abundant in Palestine; the thorns, with which our Lord was crowned, were the spiny branches of the Spina Christi; the balm of Gilead was the produce of the Amyris Gileadensis, and the A. Opobalsamum, gum ladanum is yielded by the beautiful Cistus ladaniferous, and galbanum, an ingredient of the incense of the sanctuary, was procured from the Bubon galbanum. What particular plant is the rose of Sharon or the rose of Jericho, is not decided, but what is commonly called the Jericho rose is the Anastatica hierocpuntica, and no rose at all. The grapes of Palestine are not less remarkable for their dimensions, than for the great size of the clusters. The bay-tree of Scripture is the sweet bay (Lauras nobilis), a small evergreen. The almond-tree, on account of its white blossoms, is used to typify old age. 5. Divisions. Syria, or Sham, comprising Palestine in the southwest, was divided, while it formed a part of the Ottoman empire, into 4 pachalics or eyalets; Aleppo, Damascus, Acre, and Tripoli, bearing the names of their respective capitals. 6. Towns. Aleppo, the capital of Syria, and its suburbs, are 7 miles in compass, standing on 8 small hills, on the highest of which the citadel is erected, but of no great strength. An old wall, and a broad ditch, now in many places turned into gardens, surround the city, which was estimated by the late Dr. Russell to contain 230,000 inhabitants, of whom 30,000 were Christians and 5,000 Jews; but, at present, it does not contain more than 150,000. Whole streets are uninhabited, and bazars abandoned. It is furnished with most of the conveniences of life except good water, within the walls, and even that is supplied by an aqueduct, distant about 4 miles, said to have been erected by the empress Helena. The streets are narrow, but well paved with large, square stones, and are kept very clean. The gardens are pleasant, being laid out in vineyards, olive, fig, and pistachio trees; but the country round is rough and barren. Foreign merchants are numerous here, and transact their business in caravanserais, or large square buildings, containing their warehouses, lodging-rooms, and counting-houses. This city abounds in neat mosques, some of which are even magnificent; in public bagnios, which are very refreshing; and bazars, which are formed into long, narrow, arched, or covered streets, with little shops, as in other parts of the East. In 1822, the city, as well as almost every other town or pachalic, was nearly shaken to pieces by an earthquake; it was estimated, that 20,000 persons were killed, and as many wounded in the city on that terrible night, and many others afterward fell victims to disease from exposure or from hunger. Yet such are the advantages of its site, that Aleppo must continue to be a large city. In the vicinity are Hamah, on the Orontes, situated in a fertile district, esteemed the granary of Syria, with extensive manufactures and a thriving commerce, giving employment to 60,000 inhabitants; Antakich, on the site of the ancient Antioch, with about 12,000 inhabitants; and Scanderoon, or Alexandretta, a small town in an unhealthy situation, but the centre of an active trade. Tripoli, a well-built city in a delightful district, carries on a considerable commerce. It has 16,000 inhabitants. Acre or Ptolemais is one of the principal commercial towns of Syria; population, 20,000. In its vicinity are Mount Carmel, celebrated in sacred history; Tyre and Sidon, once queens of the sea; and Jaffa or Joppa, the nearest port to Jerusalem. To the north of Sidon is Beirout, the ancient Berytus, in the land of the Druses, a small town with about 5,000 inhabitants, and, further north, is Gibel, the Byblos of the Greeks, and the Gebal of the Old Testament, whose inhabitants were the calkers of Tyre. In the interior is the village of Balbec or Baalbec, noted for its fine ruins. Damascus, one of the most ancient cities in the world, since it is mentioned in the history of Abraham, is one of the handsomest and most flourishing cities of Asia. It stands in a valley celebrated for its beauty and fertility, and ranked by the Arabians as one of their four terrestrial paradises. The houses, though simple externally, are internally finished in a style of great splendor, and most of them are furnished with fountains. The coffee-houses, many of which are built upon piles in the river, where an artificial cascade has been made, are distinguished for their luxury and magnificence. From 30,000 to 50,000 pilgrims on their way from all parts of the Ottoman empire, and from Persia and Turkistan, annually assemble at Damas |